In the 1800s, Sojourner Truth lived and worked at this Hudson Valley property in New York that eventually became known as the Vanderlip Mansion. Much later, in the 1970s, a vampire moved in.
But Truth, a leader in the women’s rights and abolitionist movements, might not have batted an eyelid at that bloodsucker’s arrival — because when she lived at the property she was employed by one Robert Matthews, a self-appointed second coming of the Messiah.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” Alexandra Shaw of Corcoran Legends Realty told The Post. Shaw is not only the listing agent for 3 Beechwood Way, one of three homes carved out of the Vanderlip Mansion — now part of the Beechwood at Scarborough Community — but she also lives in one of the development’s townhouses.
“When I heard about the history I thought I’d better do some research,” said Shaw. “A neighbor invited me in to look into the history — he had all these books piled up! I had no idea it was going to be so extensive.”
Located adjacent to the Hudson River in the Scarborough neighborhood of Briarcliff Manor, the Vanderlip mansion’s latest chapter began in the 1980s when the estate was converted into a housing development. The work created three still-sizable homes, starting at roughly 4,000 square feet, in the expansive mansion — and adding 34 townhouses to the approximately 33-acre grounds.
Listed for $2.4 million, 3 Beechwood Way has 7,200 square feet, accessed by a grand main entrance, leading to a bright hallway where an elegant staircase curves up to the second and third floor’s six bedrooms and five bathrooms.
Most rooms have original restored wood paneling and intricate plaster molding — the latter particularly impressive in the conservatory, which has a fountain topped by three cherubs.
“All of the past owners have gone to extensive lengths in the preservation, which I am very thankful for,” said Shaw. “Everything right down to the powder room has been meticulously cared for.”
Though the original character has been maintained, the home is very livable, with lots of natural light, and a modern kitchen and bathrooms. The master suite includes a marble soaking tub and a steam shower.
Additionally, the home has a screening room, a wine cellar and a large attic converted into a playroom.
But it’s the history that really counts.
The property’s story dates to 1780, when wealthy businessman Benjamin Folger built a farmhouse on an impressive lot abutting the Hudson River. Folger and his wife fell prey to that crazy Messiah Matthews claims of being the second coming and deeded him the house. It’s not known how Truth became his housekeeper, but the emancipated former slave — born into slavery in a Dutch household in the Hudson Valley — probably just needed work. Somehow she became embroiled in a murder trial involving Matthews. They got off that rap, but madman Matthews was then imprisoned for beating his daughter.
Around 1850, Henry Remsen, a financier and bank executive at the Manhattan Company, now Chase Manhattan Bank, who also served as private secretary to second president Thomas Jefferson, purchased the property as a summer home for his family. His brother in law, railway tycoon Henry Walter Webb, began purchasing land in Scarborough, eventually taking over the Remsen’s house, too. Webb created a massive estate and enlisted the architect RH Robertson to expand the mansion, including adding the wing that houses 3 Beechwood Way, and giving the house a Colonial Revival slant away from the former Federal style.
In 1906, the home was purchased by Frank Vanderlip, the vice president of First National City Bank, now Citibank. Vanderlip and his wife Narcissa enlisted Frederick Law Olmsted, best known as the designer of Central Park, to cultivate the extensive grounds; architect William W. Bosworth, whose achievements included restoring the Palace of Versailles and rebuilding Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral’s roof, was brought in to turn the mansion into a Gilded Age show home.
The Vanderlips welcomed friends like Woodrow Wilson, actress Sarah Bernhardt, Henry Ford, FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt, and John D. Rockefeller as guests. According to Shaw, during one house party, the Wright Brothers arrived by landing a plane on the great lawn, which still exists today as a communal property feature.
“According to Frank’s son, Annie Oakley used to ‘come up and shoot the place up’,” said Shaw of the Wild West icon. “His words, not mine.”
Vanderlip rose from farmhand to become a journalist, a bank president, and an assistant secretary of the United States Treasury, where he played a part in founding the Federal Reserve System. He also founded the Scarborough School, the first Montessori school in the United States, and developed Palos Verdes in California.
“He was a self-made man who ran with a pretty elite crowd,” said Shaw. “He wrote a book titled ‘From Farm Boy to Financier,’ telling his story.”
Narcissa, meanwhile, was close friends with Eleanor Roosevelt and both were prominent in Women’s Suffrage, establishing the League of Women Voters and pushing for legislative change the resulted in the passing of the 19th Amendment allowing women the vote.
Frank Vanderlip died in 1937.
“Once Frank passed, the magic stopped and the property wasn’t kept in the best condition,” said Shaw. By the 1970s, the property was leased out for movies and TV show shoots.
And then came the vampire.
“House of Dark Shadows,” a movie spin-off of the “Dark Shadows” TV show about the vampire Barnabas Collins was filmed in part there.
“That was actually filmed in what is now 3 Beechwood Way,” said Shaw.
The property’s drama days now seem to be over and homeowners live here, enjoying relative bucolic splendor. “It’s a quiet place, and feels private,” said Shaw. “But it’s got all this history and that makes the place more interesting, I think.”
